Conformity

you
publically agree with the majority but privately disagree with them.

Identification

a
moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way with the group because
we value it and want to be part of it.

Internalisation

you
publically agree with the majority and privately agree with them too.

when people chose to act in ways that the majority acts in.

Explanations of conformity

Deutsch and Gerard developed a two- process theory, arguing that there are two main reasons people conform

Normative
social influence (NSI)

This is about norms, people conform because they need to be
liked by other people, which leads to compliance. Therefore, they just perform
behaviours publically, but know what the majority are doing is wrong.

Informational social influence (ISI)

This
is about who has the better information, you or the rest of the group. people
conform because they are not sure how to behave, so use the majority as a
source of information. This leads to internalisation. Therefore, not only do
they act in the ways that the majority are but permanently change their
opinions about how they should behave.

Evaluation

There are individual differences in (NSI)

NSI does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the
same way. nAffiliators- these are people who have a
greater need for “affiliation” – need for being in a relationship with others. McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students
high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform.
· Therefore, the desire to be liked underlies
conformity for some people more than others.

NSI and ISI work together

·Both of these processes are involved in
conformity for example, conformity reduced in Asch’s experiment when there was
one rebellious participant This participant may reduce the power of NSI or
may reduce the power of ISI.
Therefore, this shows that it isn’t always
possible to be sure whether NSI or ISI is at work and cast doubt over NSI and
ISI as two processes operating independently

Research supports that people conform due to NSI.

In Asch’s line judgement study:
·
Psc?arlyk?wtheanswerwaswrongastherewasonlya1%errorrate.75%ofPs clearly knew the answer was wrong as there
was only a 1% error rate .75% of Ps conformed at least once.
· Many people were overheard saying that they
conformed because they didn’t want to stand out for the crowd

Research to support conformity (ISI): Lucas (2006)

Aim: test whether informational social influence
occurred in maths students. Procedure: Lucas asked students to give answers
to maths questions which were easy or difficult
· Results: there was a greater conformity to
incorrect answers when they were difficult than easier ones_ this was true for
students who rated their mathematical ability as poor. Therefore- people conform in situations where
they feel they don’t know the answer.